Iruma watched the class take bets again. "I say he lasts a minute." Ashido placed her two hundred yen into the hat. "He charges right into All Might's fist and gets smashed across the country."
"I say Bakugo is out, Todoroki is in." Kaminari placed five hundred yen. "Todoroki's calm enough to know when he's beat…then again his fight with Iruma did take a while."
"Has no one learned anything from your last gambling attempt?" Iida pleaded with the class.
"Yes, we learned to be more diverse with our betting instead of just saying someone is gonna lose." Sato added in. "Three hundred on Todoroki passing. He's going to head straight for the gate and pass for both himself and Bakugo"
"Two Yen on Bakugo winning!" Iruma placed his coins into the pile, everyone staring at him funny. "What? He's determined! He's not going to give up, and with Plus Ultra, anything's possible!"
"Yeah, two hundred yen on him winning!" Hagakure placed her bet. "Iruma-kun is never wrong!"
"He still thinks storks are where babies come from." Weren't they?
"He's also the guy that outwitted Nedzu on pure instinct, and he was right about Mineta passing despite how stupid that sounded at the time…well, it still sounds stupid now, but he did pass." Ochako tossed in eight hundred yen. "This is all my savings from the past three months! I'm all in!"
"Then I'll sweeten the pot." Oh really? Everyone turned curiously to Momo. "A gold bar on Bakugo failing." … What?
"Do…you just keep bars of gold in your pockets?" Tsu asked.
"Well normally I use a debit card, but I don't think that would apply here." Ochako looked really dizzy.
"I could … win gold … someone pinch me … OW! Not you Toru!" Nice to see his friends get along so well.
"So how do you spend gold?" He decided to ask. "It is like special money where you give it to something you really like?"
"No, you give it to a bank, where they evaluate it's worth, then give you money of equal value." That made sense. "This should be a good … five, maybe six million yen."
"Six..six…" Now Iruma was starting to feel dizzy too. "If I win, someone please hide the money, I don't want my parents knowing I have something like this."
"On it." Wow, everyone in class agreed. They really were good friends.
==
Bakugo stomped forward, growling. "Stupid Dunce Face, stupid Rock Head, i'll show them who's really the best." The entire class kept going off about how the weak were strong. They weren't, it was just determination. If you went up against a villain with equal determination, strength mattered.
"You know it's a team competition right?" And now this was happening. "We should have come up with even a smidgen of a plan other than to attack All Might."
"What is there to plan?" Their quirks were too flashy for stealth and running from someone as fast and experienced as All Might was a pipe dream. "If you think you can outrun the number one hero, go for it. It'll give me time to prepare a big enough blast to explode in his face."
"And yet you have to gather sweat, meaning you'll start off weak while he's at his best." He growled. "I'm just saying it's All Might, we should try and consider a more tactical approach."
"And what, have 'tactics' ever worked on your dad?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen my father since I was four." The fuck…?
"Save the Soap opera for someone that cares." Bad enough listening to the crappy homelife Dodger had. The idiot was too dumb to lie about anything. "I'm going to close the gap in class today! I'm wiping that stupid smile off of All Might's face and proving who the top of the class is!"
"Wiping a smile off a face? That doesn't sound very heroic does it?" There he was, the end game. The Number One. Even weighed down with metal he still had a presence that weighed down on them. Half and Half actually had his eyes widen.
"Says the villain!" He started strong, blasting his way forward with intent to blow the man to smithereens. Said intent was ruined when he blasted air.
"Think quicker." And now he felt a cannonball on his back, launching him into the ground hard. All Might's quirk, the little known about it, was no doubt some sort of strength enhancement, the wind pressure just being the result of being so damn strong. Which meant he was covered in both close and long range attacks. He heard ice form. "And a sneak attack like that would do nothing!" As he got up he heard it shatter, followed by a gasp.
He looked and saw Half and Half holding his stomach, wind knocked out of him. Growling, Bakugo launched himself, preparing to land a punch square in that jawline. "Are you insane?" Peppermint asked, barely able to keep himself on the ground. "He barely has to move to shake the city. You can't fight him head on."
"I'm not going to lose!" Bakugo yelled, keeping his gaze solely on All Might, the only one in this fight that mattered. "I'm going to win this no matter what! That's what it means..to be a hero!"
"Then I guess you're fine with losing!" All Might was gripping his face. He retaliated with a series of explosions to All Might's face. "Definitely have some fight in you, but that's not enough!" And the man proceeds to throw him into the ground. Ow.
"Fuck you." And now talking hurts. He pulled himself up, hearing fire roar loud, turning to see Half and half blasting at All Might. "I can take him."
"Your bloody head begs to differ!" Half and half yelled, sliding on that damn ice of his and grabbing him off the ground. "We're leaving now!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" He yelled, already trying to fight his way out of his grip. "I'd rather lose than receive help from the likes of you!" He didn't need Deku's help!
"... Then I guess you're weaker than Iruma." That actually got his attention on the bastard, who made a glacier to separate them from All Might.
"GET BACK HERE!"
==
Mission 'run away from All Might using Bakugo's pride' was a success. Now he needed to focus on mission 'calm Bakugo the fuck down', it was much more relevant. Leading him to an empty alleyway would only give them so much time to form some sort of plan. "Now that I have your attention.." He narrowly dodged an explosion to the face. "We need to actually figure out what the hell we're going to do."
"First I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to kill All Might." Part of him still couldn't believe someone so talented was such an asshole … oh right, family.
"And that went so well last time didn't it? Tell me, how much damage did All Might take? None, now how could that be if you were trying to kill him? That's right, he's number one! There is nothing in your arsenal that can scratch him!" Just treat it like he used to treat his father, see if that works.
"Shut up! I had him right where I wanted him until you butted him!" Wow, he doubted Endeovor's pride blinded him this much. "Your shitty ice is basically like throwing tinfoil at him, and it's making it harder for me to create big enough explosions to send the bastard flying!"
"Maybe if you threw away the ego for once in your life, you could see how working together can allow us both to pass.."
"My victory is the only one that matters around here! I got this far by myself, and I don't need anyone's pity to push me forward! Don't you dare help me, Deku!"
The alleyway became very quiet. "Isn't Iruma the one in class who reminds you of whoever 'Deku' is?"
"Don't talk about it."
"You just called me Deku, I have every right to talk about it."
"It doesn't matter to you."
"It kind of does when you call me useless. Do you remember whoever that guy is whenever someone tries to help you?"
"Stop it alright. I'll strategize and talk if you want just, fuck off, and never talk to me about this ever again." … Psychologically analyze the most violent member of 1-A, or win a single exam … Win.
==
"They sure can run." All Might muttered as he ran through the city. "Where did they hide? They can't stay there forever if they wish to win." Run and hide was an unlikely strategy for either student, at most he could've seen Todoroki attempt to incase him in ice over and over to contain him while Bakugo readied his shot in a completely separate attempt to pass the exam.
They both had a certain aura of pride that surrounded them, but Todoroki didn't seem like the kind of student that would believe he could take on the number one pro, even if he was using both sides of his quirk now. Bakugo however was dangerously volatile. He treated every opportunity as a chance to overcome some sort of challenge.
Bakugo proved it right now, by coming out of a corner with a hand aimed at him. No problem, he just needs to throw a punch and-he was interrupted by a clicking sound … Young Todoroki was right behind him wasn't he?
BOOM!
'And that's going to leave a mark.' He thought as the two began booking it, ice walls between him and his targets. 'So they finally compromised … lovely. However.' He cracked his neck, feeling the embers close to their limit. 'I still need to stop them.'
"So you two are working together? I guess I should up the ante then!" He shot himself forward, breaking both gauntlets in their hands. "No more of that!"
"Support gear just means it makes using my quirk easier. Without it, I just have to go plus ultra!" Bakugo snarled, aiming his hands right in his face. "Now Half-and Half!"
"Wh.." The pro was bombarded again, this time flames taking up the entirety of his vision as he was pushed backwards just a tad. 'Of course, using his left side, it raises the temperature and allows Bakugo to sweat more."
"This won't hold him back for long." Todoroki said to his partner, the flames started to go wild. "I don't have control over my left side as I do my right."
"Of course it won't hold him back! I'm just using your fire to prepare my special move! Get ready to head to the gate! He's all mine!" Still as prideful as ever, but he was directing it into something constructive.
"Talking about your plan in front of a villain? Not your smartest of moves!" He pushed through the fire and explosion, grabbing onto Todoroki. "Now what's your play, Hero?"
"This." And the number one hero found himself encased in an iceberg once more, this time, the size was comparable to the one at the sport festival. No matter, just a simple flex or two, and he'll shave all the ice off of…
"HOWITZER…" Young Bakugo was spinning in a tornado of black smoke. "..IMPACT!" So that's what he was building towards. Actually stung a bit … he really was getting weaker, wasn't he? "Move Number two!" He grabbed onto the ice user, spinning around mid air-
"Bakugo, what do you think-"
"X CATAPULT!" Bakugo threw the boy right into the gate. "CROSS IT, YOU ICEY HOT BASTARD! Don't look back!"
"You've really grown, but I won't let you pass this easily!" He readied another attack, the boy looking like he was preparing to carry this out until the end. A true heroic spirit if he ever saw. " DETROIT SMA…" A stream of fire hit him right in the torso, right where his injury was. "Ach..!"
"What the.." Shit, Bakugo noticed how effective it was.
"Move it!" Todoroki yelled. "Let's both cross before he gets back up."
Bakugo's gaze lingered on his injury, before growling and launching himself over to the gate. All Might finally recovered, intent on blasting himself forward. "Bakugo and Todoroki pass."
"They actually did it. They worked together and learned to retreat." There were plenty of hurdles for them both to overcome, but their journey as great heroes had taken a huge step forward today. It wasn't just his successor, all of Class 1-A would be the best of the best one day.
==
He kept his hands steady, taking a deep breath. Easy, easy. One wrong move and death would follow. His hand lowered to the device in question, fate of the world in the balance. Ease it … ease it and … there. "Perfect temperature tea." Gentle had been waiting ages for this.
"Perfect as always, Gentle." His lovely assistant, La Brava, watched as he poured them both two cups of tea. "Golden tips?"
"Not today, I'm afraid, La Brava. The time's not quite right for such a bold act. We are only going after a small time mall after all. Do you know that they purposely docked the wages of workers for upsetting a woman who was already banned from their store?"
"So unfair. The world can be such an unforgiving place." La Brave spoke disappointedly.
"Which is why our love will return forgiveness to the world!" He could hear her gasp. "Now then La Brava, ready the camera, our act on this unjust world shall make headlines yet!"
"Sir Gentle, how could you accuse me of such a thing." He turned with a raised eyebrow. "I always have the Camera Rolling. That's what editing is for." Haha! That's his one and only partner in action. Now then, onto fame and justice!